7 Deadly Characters More Frightening Than Chuck Norris

Chuck Norris is one scary dude for bad guys everywhere. There is not much that fazes Norris as he takes on the forces of evil in a quest to make the world safe for conservative Christianity and wholesome martial arts competitions once again. It seems like pure fantasy to believe you can find anything truly more frightening than Chuck Norris–beyond a hypothetical law outlawing the practice of martial arts. These seven movie characters do their best to give Norris a run for his money in eliciting fear among the masses.

1. The Joker (“Dark Knight”)

Give Heath Ledger credit. He makes the most recent version of the Joker an embodiment of chaos. He burns a pile of money for the hell of it. Blows up a hospital for kicks. Torments heroes like Batman and Commissioner Gordon simply to pass the time. And he sports a nasty perma-smile scar on top of all of that. The Joker tells Batman he simply wants to watch the world burn. Somehow, it isn't hard to picture the Joker holding the matches to light it up.

What is scary about Hannibal Lecter isn't that he is a serial killer. The scary part comes from him being an eloquent, intelligent and refined cannibal. This guy can turn a simple dinner into a bloodbath – complete with lobotomized dinner guests who get to sample tasty morsels of their own brain. He needs stay away from the reality cooking shows. Wannabe chefs everywhere would be dropping like flies.

3. Freddy Kruger (“Nightmare on Elm Street”)

When you can't escape from a killer even in your own dreams, that redefines creepy and frightening. The original Freddy Kruger–before he became a wisecracking anti-hero in lame sequels–was a malevolent undead burn victim who stalked the children of the vigilantes who roasted him alive. Kruger killed them one-by-one in their dreams and the deaths carried over into real life. The only people invulnerable to his attacks–college students pulling all-night cram sessions around final exam time. Those people are too doped up on caffeine pills and energy drinks to ever sleep.

4. Samara (“The Ring”)

Netflix is not the true cause for video stores going out of business. Blame their demise on Samara. This little girl haunts a videotape full of disturbingimages. People who watch it die within seven days unless they share a copy with another potential victim. Their mode of death is unsettling. The creepy girl crawls out of the well, then out of the TV screen and literally turns her victims into mummies with an eternal expression of horror.

5. The Creeper (“Jeepers Creepers”)

It is never easy dealing with a winged demon that awakes every 23 years and feeds on humans for 23 consecutive days. Problems ensue when it comes to light that the demon tracks victims by sensing fear and that if you blow off body parts, it simply grows new ones. How are potential victims not going to feel afraid at that point and become food for the Creeper? It fits the definition of a vicious cycle perfectly.

Being raised by a puritanical mother never gave poor Carrie a chance. She is a prototypical weird and lonely teenage girl who becomes the target of bullying classmates. Those classmates find out the hard way not push a lonely teen too far. Once she discovers she has telekinetic powers, Carrie lays waste to the prom and she burns or electrocutes everyone in her path. That makes for some awkward yearbook photos.